Pirates

During my childhood years my parents used to enter my brothers and I in an annual carnival held in my mums hometown Hayle (Cornwall) , our costumes were always based on a theme and one of my favourites was when we dressed as Pirates , equipped with swords and Skull and Crossbones. My Mother used to tell how our Great Great Grandfather was the Captain of a steam ship named the "SS HAyle" which ran aground in the Hayle estuary, I like to think he led a double life as actual a Cornish Sea Pirate that ran it a ground in order make off with the booty.

Hayle is a few miles from Penzance famed for its Pirates, which are celebrated each August Bank holiday monday on "Pirate Day"

The Pirate and outlaw meme was reinforced during my child by Adam Ant who played the outlaw archetype well.

The main commercial radio station in Cornwall is Pirate fm

When I first moved from Bristol to London in the early nineties I was living to a soundtrack an of Acid House, Hardcore Rave , Jungle Tekno / Drum and Bass and it was the "Pirate" radio stations the likes of F.T.P. (Bristol), Weekend Rush ,Pulse FM, Kool FM & Rinse (London) which fed the vibes. 

I had my own a encounter with the London pirates Rush FM in the mid 90's and as a DJ  on Jelly FM.

I recently discovered I'm not the first in my family to dabble in pirate radio my uncle played rock and roll from one of the infamous ships in the 60's.

Years later The Hollywood film "The Pirates of the Caribbean" brought the Pirate meme back to global conciousness.it touched on the magical and mystical and Goddess Spirituality.

These days my son watches "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on the Disney Channel

Halloween / Samhain / Day of the Dead

As a child, my first memories of Halloween was of making pumpkin "Jack O Lanterns" , apple bobbing etc, my mum a Christian (Catholic) explained Halloween means “All Hallows Eve”. "All Hallows"  Day is the old English term for "All Saints" Day ( November 1 ) and November 2 is "All Souls Day" 

A religious  festival when people have traditionally prayed for departed relatives. In some parts of Latin America they call November 2nd "The Day of the Dead !"

These  dates were chosen by the early Christian church as they fall over the pre Christian "Celtic" festival of "Samhain". Which is the gaelic word for the festival which occurs on the date midway between the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. A time when the veil between the physical and the spirit world is said to be at it thinest.

In the eighties Halloween was central to the film E.T. which was probably my first introduction to the UF0/Alien meme.The significant events in ET (a birth/death/resurrection story) occurred around Halloween (giving a suitable excuse for E.T. to go out unnoticed.)
E.T. also introduced me and many of my generation to; The American fantasy role playing game Dungeons and Dragons (which a friend of my mums from work warned might lead to an interest in the occult), the newly imported American BMX bikes and the American custom of “Trick or Treat”.

Halloween returned to my conscious a few years later by which time I was a punk and skateboarder,The American hardcore punk band the Misfits were lovers of American Horror films and B Movies,one of their anthem was the song "Halloween" The Misfits became increasingly interested in the occult and when they split some of the members continued in a band called "Samhain". It was the lead singer of the Misfits and Samhain "Glenn Danzig" who introduced me to the Nag Hammadi (Dead Sea Scrolls) and other "lost" books of the Bible.

In the nineties the festival of Halloween saw a re-emergence with an emphasis on themed fancy dress parties and at the extreme end adult parties along the lines of Wasteland ,Torture Garden.

By the naughties my trajectory had moved to an interest in Latin American culture where the Day of the Dead is celebrated by families holding candlelight vigils for their departed loved one at the ceremony.
I had forgotten how the James Bond (007) film “Live and Let Die” had introduced me at an early age to ; Baron Samedi , the medium "Solitaire" and  Tarot cards and different cultural approaches to death, funerals and the afterlife.

Alleluyah - the unity of religious truth

The term Hu in reference to a creator or god is linked to many cultures and religions. The modern day cult of Eckankar, ancient Egyptians and the Druid are just a few. In Sufism "Hu" or "Huwa" is the pronoun used with Allah ( God ), and is used as a name of God. Allah Hu means "God, Just He!" In Arabic Allah means God and with Hu, as an intensive added to Allah, means "God himself." Hu is also found in the Islamic credo La Ilaha Ila Allah Hu: (la el la ha el al la hu) "There is no God but Allah," or in Sufi interpretation "There is no reality, except God", or in La Ilaha Ila Huwa meaning "There is no god but He" Others speculate that the pronoun when used by the Sufi (and Muslim) is simply a shorter form of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton due to the similarities between Sura Al-Ikhlas 112:1 in the Quran and Deuteronomy 6:4 in the Hebrew Bible. Sura Al-Ikhlas (112:1) - Say: He, Allah, is One. Transliteration : qul huwa allah hu ahad Deuteronomy 6:4 - Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Transliteration : shema ysrael yahowah elohynu yahowah achad

Snakes

Lately I have been thinking a lot about snakes and what they represent.

David Icke's views on "reptilians" are fairly well known.I think they are sometimes taken a too literally.Certainly the study of the physiology of the human brain confirms we all have the reptilian/mamalian sections which developed at a different stages of our evolution.Perhaps we differ to the extent our behaviour is determined by different parts of our physiology. A  friend sent me this link which puts a postive spin on the whole reptilian question. 

In the Christian tradition the snake represents Satan that tempted Eve to eat from the fruit of knowledge, thereby making the first choice of free will, contary to the Divine will, this fall from Eden or paradise was simultaneously a realisation of good and evil and hence a moment of enlightenment.

The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Lately I have become aware of the very fluid movements of some Martial artists who move around each other in similar way to the way snakes move, this is particularly noticeble in some Brazillian Jujitsu or Capoeira fights.

In Kung Fu, the snake is traditionally one of the mythical "five animals" Those who follow the way of the warrior sometimes use their kung fu to achieve  the ultimate goal of self mastery/enlightenment. 

 
The snake in some eastern traditions represents the kundalini energy that rises up the spine from the lower chakra to the crown to enlighten/illuminate the yoga practioner.

Bad Orb

Capoeira Angola

Jiu Jitsu




Owl and Snake

Zero

Triskellion

Zero's and Olive's

Back in the late eighties early nineties during the rave era I was particulalry inspired by a tune called "Lock Up " by the artist Zero B, around the same time I was into the fairly unkown Hip Hop act "MC 900 ft Jesus" whos DJ I believe was called DJ Zero. During this era I used to attend a underground party called Zero Gravity  and it was around this time I passing through Smurf obsession, during which I was dj'ing under the alias Blue 5 (a subtle Skywalker reference) (this syncs with another "Zero" from Star Wars "0 B 1 / Obi Wan Kenobi" 

During the same period I attended a graffiti workshop held by an artist called "Zero" we planned a couple of joint pieces with the tag ZERO/ Blue 5.

  Within the last couple of years I was surpised to find an aquaintance of mine from those years is now making music with the original Zero B ,the two of them known as the Drum Monkeys Zero B  has also worked with the Dub Pistols

The word Olive and extensions of it have also been reoccuring in my conciouness over the last few years. Discussions over the dinner table reminded me of Olive Oil from Popeye who my wife is a fan of. My wifes maiden name is Oliveira and my son has retained it (along with my surname) Oliveria is also the surname of my Capoeira Grandmaster. 

"Olives" first started resonating with me in the 00's when a female artist called "Olive" released a bass breakbeat pop tune "your not alone" at the same time my new housemate a work colleague called "Olivia" accused my existing house mate (also a work colleague) of poisoning her with his coffee. for some reason at that time it occured to that "olive" could be read as "Zero Live" 

 Over the years I have transitioned from being mostly immeresed in either Live music or recorded/electronic music. One perspective on the difference between the live / recorded  was highlighted to me and summed up in the title of a live album by Punk band "The Misfits" entitled "Evil LivE". The Misfits were fans of Halloween horror recently I discovered Zero is also the name of Jack Skellingtons dog in the nightmare before Christmas

Click the link for more  "ohs" .

The Chicken/ Cockerel

A few years ago when I started training Capoeira my Kung Fu teacher jokingly refered to it as "yellow chicken dancing" as opposed to his own martial arts style "Yellow Dragon Fist" but he never said I shoudn't practise ! It also actually made me think of how cockerals fight... Lately a friend of mine has be training Brazillian Ju Jitsu with the Gracie school at the Tokei Martial arts centre in London Bridge which has a cockerel as its motif. I have been syncing quite a few "chickens" and "cockerels" lately and recently an online friend posted on the cockerels connection to the Orisha "Shango" I have also noticed a sexual symbolism. Currently my sons favourite clip is the brazillan nursery ryme "meu pintinho amarelinho" about a little yellow chick.

Sirens and Starbucks

These days the wailing "Sirens" of police, ambulance and fire services are a common occurence in our cities, they draw our attention, alert us to danger and send a message to criminals that its time to scarper, but pause to reflect on the root of the word and we realise it comes from the call of the Mermaid or Siren these dazziling beautiful Goddeses of the sea would enchant sailors with their song causing them to fall in love and carry them away to their underworld , the English word serenade has the same root.

Just as sailors were warned of the mermaids, both religions and governments have a history of  warning of the dangers of the flesh,  effectively using the control of sex to manage the behaviour of the masses.

Few know of the evolution of the popular "Starbucks" coffee logo,which in earlier versions was a mermaid baring her breast, Just like the mermaid uses her sexual attraction to lure the seamen, so too do many advertising campaigns use the pull of sexual attraction to draw in their target and caputure their prey.

As the saying goes "The female of the species is deadlier than the male."

Song to Siren - This Mortal Coil (Elizabeth Fraiser)

K Resonances

"K is Knowledge, Knowledge is Power, Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Lately I have been experiencing a lot of synchronicity around the letter “K” 

K is the 11th letter of the alphabet , and represents the number 1000 and "Y2K" came to refer to the year 2000 which Jake Kotze has blogged about at his blog. 11:11 could represent two pillars or the twin towers.

"K Punks" blog with its commentary on Hauntology is another K Resonator.
 
My name is Stephen which is the Greek for crowned one or "King" An early 2 K was my realisation of this Knowledge in relation to the horror writer Stephen King.

One K K was the Kronstadt Klub  a Punk club in Bristol in the eighties named after the Kronstad rebellion.

Another 2 K is Krishna Konciousness which isn't a massive jump away from  Khrist (Christ) the King or Christ Conciousness (for the more Gnosticlly minded). 

Perhaps the first Triple K that came into my consciousness was the K.K.K. which I heard about as a child. It was around this time i became aware of the evil that men do.The K.K.K. epitomises this and I have been fighting a battle ever since against the racism bigotry and intolerance they represent and that the letter K often evokes for me, 

Apparently the KKK got its name from the Greek word Kuklos meaning circle so it essentially meant Circle of Brothers ( which in itself is not a "bad" name ). Then by modelling itself on the Knights Templar attempted to create for itself a historical legitimacy for its twisted views.

It was the K.L.F that first introduced me to the "Illuminati" meme and the idea that the Illuminati is made up of different factions fighting for dominance this resonates with another "K" Tupac's "K'illuminati".

A milestone for me in reclaiming language was the work the by the K.L.F ( Kopyright Liberation Front, K Foundation, Kings of Low Frequency ) this concept could be understood in a similar way to that where some gay people refer to themselves as "Queer" or some "African Americans" refer to themselves as "Niggas" The theory being that by reclaiming the use of the language its takes the sting out of the words that had previously been tainted with negative connotations by haters.

The KLF were early pioneers of Techno the early UK  Underground Scene alongside the likes of DJ Kim CosmiK  who spun her tunes at Spiral Tribe as did  the techno visionary Colin Dale who co ran club Knowledge

I associate the triple K with The Three Kings/The Three Wise Men/Three Magii found in the Bible. The King's  Golden Crown can represent  enlightenment ( Christ/ Cosmic Conciousnessses ) via the crown chakra  /  the 33 C's  /  Kings  / C3PO

My third and final triple K is the "Kit Kat Klub" a Techno/Trance club in Germany famous for its Fetish dresscode its name was inspired by a club of the same name in London at the turn of the century which was renowned for Progressive Libertarian Political thinking.